Optically tunable photoluminescence and upconversion lasing on a chip

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a chip-scale optomechanical device with wide wavelength tunability, green upconversion lasing, and self-pulsing, advancing integrated photonic systems for scalable networks and sensors.

Contribution

It introduces an erbium-implanted double-disk optomechanical system enabling wide tunability and lasing on a chip, combining radiation pressure and photothermal effects.

Findings

520 pm wavelength tuning range in photoluminescence

Green upconversion lasing with a 340 μW threshold

Observation of optomechanical self-pulsing phenomena

Abstract

The ability to tune the wavelength of light emission on a silicon chip is important for scalable photonic networks, distributed photonic sensor networks and next generation computer architectures. Here we demonstrate light emission in a chip-scale optomechanical device, with wide tunablity provided by a combination of radiation pressure and photothermal effects. To achieve this, we develop an optically active double-disk optomechanical system through implantation of erbium ions. We observe frequency tuning of photoluminescence in the telecommunications band with a wavelength range of 520 pm, green upconversion lasing with a threshold of $340\pm 70 \; \mu$W, and optomechanical self-pulsing caused by the interplay of radiation pressure and thermal effects. These results provide a path towards widely-tunable micron-scale lasers for photonic networks.